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CF Montreal Trades Kei Kamara To Chicago Fire
By The Kei Kamara saga ended on Friday when he was traded to the Chicago Fire.
It was dramatic, to say the least, but Kei Kamara had his request fulfilled when he was shipped to the windy city of Chicago for GAM money.
Montreal will get $250,000 in GAM money in 2023, $125,000 in 2024, and an addition of up to $150,000 conditional on Kei Kamara’s performance with his new team.
The trade was news to Kamara when I reached to him at the time of the news break. At that point, the Sierra Leone native said he had no clue and wouldn’t comment at the time.
When Kamara was originally acquired by Montreal in 2022 he had two option years on his contract but barely made $100,000. The main issue for him was his family, who he had left in the states.
His original idea after having an outstanding season with the team and falling in love with the city was to get a new deal that could bring him and his family together and finish his career in Montreal.
He mentioned in a media scrum back at the beginning of training camp that he told the team not to pick up his option because he wanted to renegotiate but the team ended up doing it.
When it was announced the team had picked up his option he went on social media to state how happy he was to be staying in Montreal, but in reality that’s when the problem started.
According to Olivier Renard, who also met the media back at the beginning of February, the team made a one-year and a two-year offer with ‘more than enough’ to keep him happy and move his family.
On Kamara’s side, the offers didn’t seem good enough and weeks later went back on social media to announce he had requested a trade and needed to move on.
That was news to Renard, as the player had formally missed the first week of training camp due to being in Africa with his foundation and also catching a bad cold while he was there.
Renard seemed furious and said at the time: “Listen, if he has a problem he needs to come to my office and talk with me and Vassili so we can work this out and right now it’s a breach of contract.”
Kamara, a week late, finally showed up to camp and as the weeks went on I attempted to ask head coach Hernan Losada about the situation and I got the following response.
“I feel like every time we have a press conference people are asking me about Kei and I have nothing to comment. I want people to stop asking.”
It’s not the response you were hoping for from a young head coach on a second-chance coaching job in the MLS, but the issue is now resolved and both parties can move on.
Kei Kamara contributed nine goals and eight assists through 39 appearances with CF Montreal – quite a good tally for a 38-year-old forward.
The MLS regular season begins tonight as CF Montreal will face Inter Miami at DRV Pink Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 7:30PM. The match can be seen on TSN, RDS, and the debut of Apple TV with MLS Season Pass.